Sweet Shoppe Designs

Dreams Persevere by Shawna Clingerman

Food and I have an interesting relationship – sometimes good and sometimes bad but definitely interesting.
I guess it started all when I had stomach surgery 8 and half years ago – it was supposed to help me lose weight but I believe strongly since it didn’t work that 15 years old was too young to have the surgery & that the support systems such as a dietitian were not provided for long enough in the public health system. I’m not sure even now I would have the surgery but I would definitely invest in seeing a dietitian.
After the surgery I had all the normal side effects – nausea. Diarrhea, vomiting if I ate too fast or the wrong foods but unfortunately it has continued right to this day which makes living almost impossible especially when you want to go out or see family or friends for a meal. About 5 months ago the food issues really caused issues while I was on holiday with family – I couldn’t even eat yoghurt without it backing up and causing me immense discomfort – I should have seen the warning signbs then but I didn’t.
In general once I started working evenings & weekends in fast food and fast food call centres my decent diet went down the drain – it became a lot of snack foods, diet coke, subway, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, bread loaded with margarine at 10pm, frozen dinners. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to eat that food but when you only have 10-15 minutes for a break you need fast and convenient food. It also didn’t help that I didn’t know how to cook really and I still don’t to this day. Another bad habit that was created while I was working was not allowing enough time to get ready for work so I would end up skipping lunch just to catch the train to work – I would end up making it up by having Subway but that might not be until 3 or 4pm when I got to work which is way too late for lunch. My really bad days tended to be when I was doing day shifts at work – we would either pool our money together & go to the local takeaway place or Pizza Hut or KFC, or during my breaks I would grab a packet of chips from the vending machine. If I hadn’t had anything by the time I finished my shift I would pick up takeaways on the way home at like 5-7pm at night – not exactly lunch time!
It has only been in the last 9 weeks or so that things have really changed & I started assessing my life while I have been sick with no energy, having dizzy spells, possible anemia, food allergies & intolerance and not being able to live a life a 23 year old should have. Since I have got sick I suddenly cut out all fast food except for Subway & Hell Pizza. This was pretty much a split second decision that just happened & I am so glad it did because I feel that much better eating homemade food that is natural and better for me. Another big change I made after I discovered I was getting sick with my towns water supply is getting a personal water filter bottle that I use religiously several times a day – I never used to drink this much water ever in a day but I feel so much better for it.
Now that I am about to see a dietitian I feel that things will change for the better once again. I really \want to find out from my doctor first if I am allergic or intolerant to certain foods such as milk, yogurt, ice-cream, cooked tomato products, citrus products. Although I don’t really want to go through the food buying and preparation if I am intolerant or allergic, it would certainly answer some unanswered questions both my family & I have right now. Secondly I would like to eliminate the almost constant vomiting that I get when foods disagree with me – it can be as simple as foods are too processed or too spicy or too greasy. Finally I would like to lose say 3o or so kilograms so that I end up in double digits again for my weight – I don’t think I have seen those numbers since I was a child!